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Lawmakers say 911th Airlift Wing won't be cut

Elected lawmakers say the Air Force has decided to keep the 911th Airlift Wing in Moon Township open through at least the 2014 fiscal year.

A bipartisan collection of lawmakers -- U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, and Reps. Tim Murphy, Mike Doyle and Keith Rothfus -- shared the news in a joint statement. They also said there will be no changes to personnel structure.

Last year, the Air Force announced plans to shut down the facility by September and said the closure could save $354 million as part of a nationwide cost-cutting effort.

Col. Craig Peters, 911th Airlift Wing Commander says, "My relief today is to be able to take and tell them to set their mind at ease, so now they can really go home and feel good about what they've accomplished and also so they can focus more on what they're doing here and focus on their families and what their fate is."

The 911th closure was put on hold and reviewed after surrounding communities and politicians from both parties complained that it didn't make financial sense.

The base uses space at Pittsburgh International Airport. The unit includes eight C-130 refueling planes and about 2,000 personnel. Those active duty military and civilians express relief at the news today. Many had to consider what to do if the base closed. Command Chief Brian Zator says, "You tighten purse strings personally because you don't know what that outcome might be."

Chief Master Sgt. Terrence Kebish says the base is like family, "Just like you do at home, we celebrate, we grieve, we do all that stuff here and it's a very close knit bunch believe me. It is a family. I've been around the world with these folks a number of times."

Kebish says, "There's a huge sense of relief that maybe we can talk about something else over dinner or after dinner other than the base closure stuff that we've been talking about for well over a year."

Murphy says the base proved it was cost effective to keep the 911th Airlift Wing open. Murphy says, "We battled every day with emails and phone calls and meetings to help the air force understand that this was a problem if they closed it and frankly it didn't make good economic sense, so we worked this, they understand now the cost savings to keep that base open."